1985 VFL season

The 89th Victorian Football League Premiership season commenced in March 1985 and concluded on 28 September 1985 with Essendon winning their second consecutive Premiership in their third consecutive Grand Final battle with Hawthorn. The 1985 VFL season continued the recent trend of high-scoring seasons, with the average game score being 105.

Night Series

Hawthorn defeated Essendon 11.11 (77) to 10.8 (68) in the Final.

Premiership season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

• The average score by each team this round was 134.8, which stands as the VFL/AFL record.^{[citation needed]}

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Finals

Elimination Finals

Qualifying Final

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

Player Statistics and Awards

Leading goalkickers

Brownlow Medal Count

• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Greg Williams of Geelong.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Simon Madden of Essendon.

Notable events

• In the first three rounds, St. Kilda set an unwanted record of three consecutive losses by 100 points. Their percentage at the end of the round was only 34.7.
• Round 3 saw a record aggregate score for a round of 242 goals 165 behinds 1,617 points, or an approximate average score of 20.15 (135).
  • For the four matches on the Saturday, the total was 166 goals 116 behinds 1,112 points, or an approximate average score of 21.13 (139). That day is the hottest on which V/AFL football has been played with temperatures reaching 33.8 °C (92.8 °F).
• The Round 6 match between St. Kilda and Geelong broke a record sequence of 342 games without a team scoring fewer goals and winning. The last occurrence had been in Round 17 of 1982.
• In Round 10, Geelong trailed at each change by 1, 10 and 13 points, but then kicked 11.7 (73) to 1.2 (8) to beat Richmond by 50 points. Their 50-point margin is the largest by a team outscored for each of the first three quarters and the second largest win by a team outscored for any three quarters of a match.
• The Round 11 match between North Melbourne and Hawthorn was the first draw in 468 games since the opening round of 1982. Although much longer non-occurrences of draws have happened in the WAFL and SANFL, the previous longest non-occurrence of draws in the VFL was 401 games between 1939 and 1943.
• A violent brawl in the Round 12 match between Hawthorn and Geelong led to veteran champion Leigh Matthews being charged with assault against Geelong's Neville Bruns.
• In Round 13, Hawthorn became the last team to kick 20 more behinds than goals. Their winning margin of 16 points is the highest by a team scoring fewer goals, and Melbourne's deficit in scoring shots of 21 is the most by a team scoring more goals.
• The combined aggregate score of 94.66 (630) for Hawthorn's two games with Richmond is a record for any two consecutive games between the same pair of clubs. Their first match's aggregate of 50.37 (337) is the equal second-highest on record and the 87 scoring shots the fourth-highest on record.
• On the week of Round 18, the Sydney Swans were bought by Geoffery Edelsten and became the first privately-owned VFL club.
• In Round 18, Essendon conceded the first two goals but then kicked eighteen without reply to lead 18.8 (116) to 2.4 (16) at half-time. This was the largest half-time lead since Round 2 of 1931 when Richmond 17.9 (111) to North Melbourne's 0.5 (5).

See also

• Early VFL Final systems
• Page-McIntyre "Final Four" system
• McIntyre "Final Five" system

References

• Stephen Rodgers: Every Game Ever Played VFL/AFL Results 1897-1991 3rd Edition 1992. Penguin Books Australia ISBN 0-670-90526-7.
• 1985 Season - AFL Tables